SPRINGFIELD (December 13, 2017) Capital Area REALTORS® (CAR) Multiple Listing Service statistics for November show year-over-year increases in pending sales, closed sales and median home sale price with modest declines reported in new listings, days on market, inventory of homes for sale and month's supply of inventory.
For the month of November 2017, the median home sale price (for all single-family homes and condominiums) was $130,000, an increase of 11.8 percent over the $116,300 November 2016 price. For the year-to-date through November of 2017 the median home sale price was $123,000, up 0.8 percent over the $122,000 price during the same period last year. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less.
"November home sales point toward a very solid end of year market," said REALTOR Ed Mahoney, ABR of RE/MAX Professionals and president of the organization. "Additionally, we have anecdotal evidence that this robust activity is continuing well into December given the many REALTORS who have reported being un-seasonally busy," said Mahoney.
The number of homes sold in the Capital Area increased by 11.2 percent in November of 2017 with 289 homes sold, compared to 260 homes sold in November of 2016. For year-to-date through November of 2017 the number of homes sold was 3,592, an increase of 0.5 percent from the same period last year.
"With tax reform front and center at the federal level we must be mindful of the need to keep the door open for homeowners," said Mahoney. "The REALTOR organization is working hard to educate members of congress on the importance of maintaining the home mortgage interest deduction, capital gains exemption for sale of a home and state and local tax deductions," said Mahoney.
The 10 foreclosure sales in November of 2017 accounted for 3.5 percent of all sales, down from the 22 foreclosure sales (or 6.9 percent of all sales) during the prior November.
The average cumulative days on market (from list date to sell date) for all home sales in November of 2017 was 81 days, down from 89 days in November of 2016. Year-to-date through November 2017 average cumulative days on market was 80, down 4 days from the prior year.
Months inventory is the best indicator of a buyer's or seller's market, and this figure continued its descent, from 4.2 months in November 2016 to 3.8 months in November 2017.
"For homes priced under $299,000 competition among buyers continues to be very strong with approximately a 3.7 months supply of inventory. At the same time, homes in the $300,000 to $499,000 range tip slightly in the buyer's favor with approximately 7.0 months of inventory. While inventory is trending down for homes in the $500,000 + range there is still an abundance of homes to choose from in the upper bracket," said Mahoney
The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. reported that the national average commitment rate for 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgages was 3.9 percent in November 2017, up from the 3.8 average rate during November of 2016.
The Capital Area REALTORS® is the Voice for Real Estate in the Capital Area representing more than 900 members involved in all aspects of the real estate industry. The Capital Area's Resource for Real Estate Information can be found at
www.SeeHouses.com.
Click
here for statistical reports.
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